Addressing the Conference of Presidents in Jerusalem, PM Netanyahu slams nuclear talks with Iran, saying they will lead nowhere, and repeated his calls for Palestinian recognition of Jewish Israel.

By i24NEWS

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Monday evening the recent international wave of boycotts against Israel, focusing especially on the European boycotters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper (unseen) following their meeting in Jerusalem, on January 21, 2014 – Photo: Menahem Kahana/AFP

“Europeans discuss boycotting Jews? This is outrageous. BDS [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] wants to see the end of the Jewish state. This needs to be exposed. They are classic anti-Semites. In the past anti-Semites used to boycott Jewish shops, today they call for a boycott on Israel. We need to fight them and boycott the boycotters,” the PM said.

The last speaker of the day, Netanyahu also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. He expressed his gratitude to the US secretary of State John Kerry and his relentless efforts in mediating the negotiations, but sounded skeptic of the results.

“The root of the conflict is the refusal to recognize the Jews’ right to their own state. We need to make sure that the peace will be real, and it will be real only when the Palestinians recognize Israel,” the Prime Minister stressed.

“They expect us to recognize the Palestinian state, so how dare they not recognize the Jewish state? Do they not know it is the Bible state, the state that defines us? We were here for many years. They do not have any excuse,” Netanyahu asserted.

Netanyahu also rejected Kerry’s proposal to deploy international forces along the Jordan border as a part of a final-status peace deal with the Palestinians.

“We have attacks bouncing off our fences, we are not asking for US troops or NATO troops.”

Netanyahu did not miss a chance to criticize Iran’s nuclear talks with the Western powers (set to resume Tuesday in Vienna), reiterating his objections. “Iran continues to develop long-range missiles that pose a threat to Europe and the United States,” the Prime Minister stressed. “The goal of the talks should be the prevention of Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Netanyahu added that de facto, “Iran has given back nothing but got international legitimization….I know it is not fashionable to say these days but we need to add pressure on Iran, not ease the pressure. The goal should be zero centrifuges and zero uranium enrichment.”

New round of nuclear talks would lead nowhere

Earlier today, Netanyahu and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei found themselves on the same page, both predicting that a new round of nuclear talks would lead nowhere.

Khamenei said that while he is not against a resumption of nuclear negotiations with the world’s major powers, he predicts the talks will “lead nowhere.”

“Some of the officials of the previous government as well as the officials of this government think the problem will be resolved if they negotiate the nuclear issue,” Khamenei said in remarks published on his website Khamenei.ir.

“I repeat it again that I am not optimistic about the negotiations and they will lead nowhere, but I am not against them,” he added.

Netanyahu for his part responded to Khamenei’s statement, saying “They [the talks] will lead nowhere in terms of stopping Iran’s nuclear program, but they will reduce international pressure on the Iranian economy.”

“So far, Iran has been the only one to benefit from the talks, in effect, they have given nothing, but received a lot,” said Netanyahu in a meeting with Peru’s President Ollanta Humala Tasso. “Iran continues with its aggressive behavior by arming terror groups. supporting the massacres carried out by the Assad regime and calling for the destruction of Israel.”

View original i24NEWS publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/140217-netanyahu-israel-s-boycotters-are-anti-semites